Surgery is not fun!

[DisneyMom]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

It's alright, hobie, and i won't tell everyone about your Jessica Rabbit Nurse Pin Collection.......ooooops!

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Zazu...that's funny...hehehe...

I did a bit of research online last night and found a plethora (I LOVE that word! :D: ) of info about DDD. It is amazing that such a small area in the body can cause so much pain. It really is such a small space in the spine, but that one little cushion allows for free movement of the back.

I am so looking forward to meeting all of the wonderful WDW CMs next week and the week after. YAY! WDW HERE WE COME!!!!!!!

susi

"Would you say I have a Plethora of presents Hefe? unn Si El Guapo! Hefe, do you KNOW what Plethora means? ummm, No, El Guapo!!"

heheheh Sorry, I always think of that movie when I see or hear that word!!!

Nurses!!! Woooooo!!! "naughty nurses????"

[DisneyMom]

"Would you say I have a Plethora of presents Hefe? unn Si El Guapo! Hefe, do you KNOW what Plethora means? ummm, No, El Guapo!!"

heheheh Sorry, I always think of that movie when I see or hear that word!!!

Nurses!!! Woooooo!!! "naughty nurses????"

Hobie! Quick! A Nurse Ratched Pic for Grumpy! :p:


She was "Naughty".

[hobie16]

It's alright, hobie, and i won't tell everyone about your Jessica Rabbit Nurse Pin Collection.......ooooops!

I can't keep any secrets around here. Sheeesssseeeeee!!!

[February]

"Would you say I have a Plethora of presents Hefe? unn Si El Guapo! Hefe, do you KNOW what Plethora means? ummm, No, El Guapo!!"

heheheh Sorry, I always think of that movie when I see or hear that word!!!

We all have our personal El Guapos. In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. . .

And we all know. . .(bringing this back to topic? I think? lol) That Susi can face her own personal El Guapos whatever they may be! Good thoughts for Susi! :cheerldr:

Bru

(btw the dude who played Hefe now plays the part of Ignacio Suarez on Ugly Betty- aka Betty's Dad! He's cool.)

[February]

Thanks so much Bru...you do understand and anyone who has been through it knows what it is like. It changes you as a person. I have been more depressed and not myself for a long while now.

Disney trips always take my mind off the pain and depression. How can one be unhappy at Disney Parks? It really is better when I am there. I have my moments, but overall a trip to Disney is a great cure for what ails ya!

This last trip to DL did me in. I did not have as much strength and I was tired and in more pain than usual. Thus the increase in my Rx for more Morphine until the surgery. Once I am out of surgery, I wonder, will I need drugs still? Will I have so little pain, I can get off them? I am hoping for the latter. To live drug free would be a blessing, but I am preparing myself for the possibility that I may need pills the rest of my life. And that maybe more disks will go...

That is good to think...I WILL have lots of fresh memeories to think of as I am going under and maybe I will think of Goofy tickling my feet as well! I love Goofy ya know... Then again I might end up thinking of this.... hehehehehe....

I can get through anything, especially with Ralphie by my side and friends like I have here...I just MISS jogging and exercise and just being able to get up and walk somewhere. It sucks and I miss all of it so badly. I try not to feel sorry for myself, but sometimes when I am lying in bed at 3PM because I can't move or even sit in a chair and to do so would be sheer torture, I do feel a little pissed that this happened and I am sad I can never do the things I used to. I just want it to magically go away and to be who I was 10 years ago. I had no pain, not like this. A little twinge now and then, which was probably a warning that I ignored.

Thanks for understanding and KNOWING what is like. I am sorry you are in the position to know what it is like. I wish we all could by some miracle, be well and whole again. But I count you as one of my blessings.

Susi

Susi, in the antibiotic laden/drowning in my own lungs haze of the past few days somehow I missed the above post and I wanted to apologize for that! I would have responded if I'd seen it sooner.

I wish too that you didn't know the pain that you're going through now. I know all too well the 3pm exhaustion and the 3 am cries- when no one is awake. I cry in the shower too, when people aren't watching. Sometimes all I can do for my pain is stand under the hot water and just try to breathe. I'm currently completely unmedicated for it- except for regular OTC Tylenol, because I have maxed out my lifetime dose of NSAIDS (I ended up with my blood count dropping way low before I figured it out- stopped the Advil and it went back up- my doctors didn't ever figure it out!) and I've tried everything there is but narcotics at this point- which I refuse because I don't feel that I can function well enough to parent if I take them. I really need to look into a pain clinic- but in the meantime I have to ask you- do you have an iPod? If not, you seriously need to consider getting one. Music is like therapy to me, and I have heard of people using music to reduce tension and tension makes back pain worse (in my case at least). Sometimes late at night all I can do is put on my iPod and listen to music until I cry myself to sleep.

I can't remember what it is like to not have pain. I remember rocking back and forth at age of three with pain in my legs- and no one did anything about it. In my teens, I went to a bunch of doctors on my own and they called it fibromyalgia or a bunch of other things- or said I needed a shrink. Sure you'd need a shrink too if you were in constant pain from the age of three and no one helped you!

I hope that as you go forward that you can try to fight when the gloom sets in, I know, pot, kettle, black *lol* It's not easy. But it's what we have to do. I am just glad that you can take so many Disney trips to distract you and hope and pray that your surgery will be successful and that you'll have many more years walking the disney parks, pain free.

Try not to think too much now about 'what if a disc goes in the future'. cause none of us know what might happen tomorrow. Just keep your eyes on the blessings you have today- and do all you can to keep your spirits up.

I hope your trip is the BEST one ever!!!
Bru

[February]

There are so many interesting factors about the anatomy of the spine. The crux of what I read about DDD is that it IS genetic, (THANKS mom, she had a diskectomy back in the 1940's YIKES! THAT had to brutal surgery back then!!!! ) and it can be several other things as well that cause the pain. There are two main causes. The first is the disc itself breaking apart and losing the fluid and drying out. The second was kind of interesting to me as someone who is fascinated with medicine and anatomy. It can be the fluid within the disk itself that leaks out and soaks the nerve and that causes the nerve to inflame and that causes a great deal of pain. It was fascinating to read and look at the diagrams and pictures of the spine to compare a healthy one with a messed up one. After seeing my own MRI the other day, I can see that my disc is flat. And the problem is that the two disks above the really bad one are showing signs of flattening. BUT, I think that this surgery is going to help! After looking at the information and realizing what exactly they are going to go in and do, it should provide a great deal of relief!

I remember reading the MRI report on my L/S spine- I remember it in singular words like "Torn" and "disc" and "dessication" and I remember looking at my husband and saying "Dude, dessicating is what they do to, like, cow liver to make it into vitamin tablets that still taste horrible when you choke em down!"

"That's not funny." he objected.

"Oh yeah, it is, and you better laugh!" I insisted.

We go to very dark humor sometimes. DH NEVER makes fun of my health problems or jokes about them- he would never risk hurting my feelings he's far too sweet- but he knows that allowing me to do so is part of the way I deal with it- and after all, I live to amuse others ;)

Recently I told him if things get much worse, I hope the cat is ready for a new job because's going to get fitted with a tiny, homemade harness and he's going to become the worlds first Seeing Eye Kitty.

He's smart. He could totally do it.

Keep your sense of humor. It's vital. Hanging out around here should help that considerably. . .

Bru

[Elena (aka: Bubble Lady)]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]hi princess...don't worry too much about the surgery...i've had a tri-level fusion in my cervical spine (ok you guys...don't get funny...that just means it's my neck)...i had it done in the early '90's...and while it didn't affect my legs it did affect my arm, hand and fingers...it helped some, but it took so long for anything to get done i did have some nerve damage (so i have the feeling of ants crawling up and down my arm as some of the problem)...now i have the same problem cropping up on the other side...only this time i'm not rushing into the surgery...i do have a very nice scar on the front side of my neck though (they go through that way to get to the back as well)...

as far as waking up during the surgery, just tell them what i do...give me enough to keep me asleep during the procedure, but not so much that i don't wake up afterwards...that usually gets a smile out of them and lets them know that i'm a nervous patient...

but in the meantime, go the wdw and have a blast! and remember what i found out...mission space didn't hurt ANYTHING...it didn't hurt my shoulder (surgery on it for rotator cuff and some other stuff late last october), it didn't hurt my neck, it didn't bother my heart (a bypass 12 yrs ago after 3 heart attacks), and it didn't bother my back either (i won't go into that problem)...

and don't forget the TRIP REPORT * TRIP REPORT * TRIP REPORT ;) [/font]

[felinefan]

You know, I wonder if any of those electrical pain things would help? I remember after George McGovern (I think), survived an assassination attempt, he was paralyzed from the waist down. They fitted him with an electric device with wires in the base of his spine, so whenever he's in pain from his wounds, he presses a button, and the electricity zaps the pain away. Right now I can't think of what they're called.

[hobie16]

I remember after George McGovern (I think)

You're probably thinking of Gov. George Wallace.